Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale is being watched. At least when he's out on the mound in 2012.
The young left-hander is set to make his third career start Friday tonight against the Seattle Mariners. How long Sale throws in that game will be monitored closely by the team for good reason. Chicago has big plans for the 23-year-old pitcher.
Sale spent most of the last two seasons in the White Sox bullpen after being selected in the first round of the 2010 MLB draft. Sale was drafted to be a starter. He was a starter in college. Eventually his home was going to be in the rotation.
Offseason departures created a spot for Sale as a starter. So far, he is 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA. He pitched 6.2 innings in a win in Cleveland and for five less successful innings in Chicago during a 5-2 loss to the Tigers. Both appearances saw Sale around the 100-pitch plateau.
In fact, Sale threw 100 pitches to the Indians and 102 to Detroit.
Sale posted a 1.93 ERA in 21 relief appearances over the remainder of 2010, then followed it up with a 2.79 ERA in 58 appearances last season. He stated in spring training that he wanted to toss 200-plus innings in 2012.
Sale seemed excited about the chance to start and is going in with an attitude reminiscent of departed starter Mark Buehrle. Credit Sale for talking the talk. However, it will be the White Sox who allow him to cash that check or not.
Sale is 23 and has a whip-like pitching motion that would seem to put a lot of stress on his left arm. Nearly tripling his innings pitched at this stage of his career could be ill-advised, to say the least.
Don Cooper is insisting that the team won't put a limit on the number of innings Sale throws this season. However, Cooper hasn't been the White Sox's pitching coach for as long as he has by blowing out the club's best arms. Look for Sale to exit around pitch 100 Friday and for the time being as his arm adjusts to the heavy workload every fifth day.
Ben Gordon Josh Howard Jason Terry Jason Kidd Dirk Nowitzki Jerry Stackhouse
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